She couldn’t see the water but she could see the dock as she sprinted around bushes on her rush to the river. Pure panic hit her as she reached the dock, out of breath. She didn’t see a little dark head on the surface. The water was almost still, no obvious current to drag his body away but it wouldn’t take much. She hit the rocks leading out on the dock, panting hard, but she kept moving until she reached the end.
Her gaze frantically scanned the surface but she didn’t see him. His pole was crushed under her boot where he’d dropped it. She turned her head but saw no help, no one by the trees, and as she looked up where she’d been sitting, no Iron standing there to see where the hell she’d gone. She was alone. As Dawn jerked her focus back on the water, she saw something there that just bobbed to the surface for a second about eight feet to her right. It had looked like little fingers.
Dawn dove in headfirst, not bothering to remove her boots. The kid had been in the water for probably close to two minutes. The water was shockingly cold as her body hit and she lost all sense of up or down. It was just cold and wet. She had aimed at her target so she blindly reached for him, her hands seeking as she widened her arms up and down and to the sides. Her wrist brushed something and she reached back thinking it was hair. It had to be from the soft brush her fingers ran through. She carefully followed it down and hit something rounded—the size of the boy’s head. She used both hands to grab as she found a shoulder and his ribs, clutching him while she tried to find the bottom of the river with her feet. She couldn’t find solid ground but she couldn’t be sure that was the right direction of where the bottom should be.
She clung to him but then relaxed the rest of her body, feeling herself float in one direction. She knew that had to be up so she dragged his body against hers, noticing that he was still, not fighting, and not clutching her. One arm wrapped around his body while she used her legs and free hand to swim. In seconds she broke the surface and she gasped in much needed air.
She shook her head hard to clear wet hair from her eyes, desperately seeking the direction of land. She saw it behind her so she maneuvered in that direction, swimming hard and frantically for it. When her boot kicked ground she almost sobbed with relief, fighting the boy’s limp weight and trying to negotiate between water and finding balance to lurch toward the embankment. The kid was little but he was damn heavy. She got them both to the edge and then she carefully laid him down so he was face up and mostly out of the water.
He was gray, even for a cyborg. He wasn’t breathing and his eyes were closed. Panic and horror hit Dawn knowing he’d drowned. She was gasping for breath, freezing cold, soaking wet, and desperately trying to remember first aid. She grabbed the boy, tipping his head back, and crawled to his side. Bending low she covered his parted mouth and blew air into him while she gently pinched his nose closed. She turned her eyes, watching his chest lift. It was working but would she be able to revive him? She wasn’t sure.
She started chest compressions, terrified she’d break his fragile ribs, being careful to not apply too much pressure to his chest. She gave him another breath and as she lifted up to start compressions, he started to choke. Relief nearly floored Dawn as she turned him on his side, hot tears filling her eyes as he gasped in air, coughing, sputtering, and struggling to breathe, but he was alive.
Rolling him more onto his stomach than not, Dawn supported his small body with one arm around his chest and rubbed him with her other hand on his back. “It’s all right,” she tried to soothe him. “Just stay with me. You’re out of the water.”
He finally stopped choking but his breaths were harsh and strained. Dawn turned her head, looking for help again but no one was in view near the trees or up on the hill she’d come from. Anger flashed through her, caused by her fear for the little boy and frustration that no one was there to help. Didn’t Iron notice she was gone? Where the hell were this kid’s parents? She pushed those questions screaming through her mind back and instead realized she would have to find help since it wasn’t coming to her.
The little boy turned his head, staring at her with pretty light green eyes set behind long, black eyelashes. His color was less dark gray and more of a dull nickel shade. She hoped that meant he was doing better, not familiar with his normal shade of gray. Terror filled his eyes as he stared up at Dawn.
“Hey, it’s okay,” she said softly. “You’re safe now. I got you out of the water and now I’m going to try to carry you back to camp to see if we can find a doctor.”
“You’re full human,” his little voice shook, terror still widening his eyes.
What had they taught this little boy about humans? It made her want to cringe. “Look,” Dawn said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. Do you remember falling into the water?”
He gave a shaky nod.
“I was helping work on a shuttle with a few cyborgs like you and I saw you fall in. I pulled you out. I wanted to save you, okay? Not hurt you.”
He blinked at her and then bit his lower lip. “You won’t kill me?” He swallowed hard, his little throat tightening for a second. “Humans kill cyborgs.”
“I don’t.” Dawn forced a smile. “What is your name?”
“Davton.”
He had an odd name but Dawn didn’t say that aloud. “If I stand up and bend down, do you think you could wrap your arms around my neck? I am going to lift you up and carry you back to your camp.”
He nodded bravely as another coughing fit attacked him while Dawn got to her feet, urging her to hurry it along to get help for the boy. Her toes rubbed in a bad way in her wet boots that were super heavy as she shifted her stance. She bent forward to allow the kid to grip her and she slid her hands under his small body. She noticed then that one of his braces was broken.
She lifted him in her arms and wanted to groan. He weighed more than any of her nephews and nieces did at that age even though he was deceptively thin. She wondered if it were the braces that gave him at least an extra thirty pounds of weight but it didn’t matter. She had to carry him to get help. She sure wasn’t about to leave him alone while he was afraid or in danger of choking to death from his fits of coughing.
“I’m Dawn,” she told him softly, planting one wet, heavy boot in front of another. She was shaking from the cold and her clothes were sticking to her, rubbing her skin raw. “Do you always go fishing by yourself?”
“No. My mother usually takes me but she had to make some calls from one of those big ships that are here to rescue us. My brace got caught on something and I couldn’t swim.” His arms tightened around her neck. “Do you know where I live?”
“I know where the camp is. It’s just past those trees.” She gripped him a little higher, the muscles in her arms protesting at his heavy weight, but kept moving. “Do me a favor, Davton. Never go fishing or by the river by yourself again, all right? Even adults should always go with a buddy. Do you know what the buddy system is?”
“No.”
“It’s where you go do things with a friend so if one of you gets hurt or into trouble the other one can go for help.”
“I am a cyborg. We have to be self-sufficient to survive and we can never trust someone else to watch our back. My mother taught me that it is better to be solitary.”
Dawn stopped walking, her attention going from the ground in front of her to the sweet little boy face inches from her shoulder. Horrified shock tore through her at his matter-of-fact words. “We all need someone sometimes, kiddo. Human, cyborg, puppy dog, or birdie in the sky, we all have that in common.”
“Do you need anyone?”
Iron’s image came to mind instantly. “Yeah. I do, and I’m afraid sometimes to trust him, but you just have to learn to have faith in someone.”
Davton studied her until a shiver shook him. “I will try to find a buddy to share a system with.”
A smile played at her lips as she started to walk again. Her boots made a loud noise with each step, water squishing out of them, but she started to warm from the
movement. She walked through the fifty feet of tree line and the thick drapes of branches into the open cyborg camp. She paused there with the boy in her arms, wondering how long it would take before someone saw her. She estimated she had maybe twenty seconds. It was closer to five.
The camp went dead silent as heads turned to stare openly at Dawn. “Do you have a doctor? He fell in the river and stopped breathing.”
One woman, a large dark-haired cyborg, dropped a pot of water by the fire and ran toward Dawn. She almost tore Davton out of Dawn’s arms, spinning to rush the boy away into one of the constructed homes. Dawn stood there and let her arms drop. Another woman marched toward Dawn, anger etched on her features. She lunged, grabbing Dawn by the front of her jumpsuit, fisting it in her hand.
“What did you do to Davton?”
“I didn’t do anything to him. I saw him fall in the river and dove in after him.”
Dawn resisted the urge to tear herself out of the other woman’s hold. She kept her voice loud and steady though, judging by some of the looks on the cyborg women’s faces, she wasn’t welcome in the least. A shiver of fear jolted down her spine as at least ten of them surrounded her, all the women looking furious as they glared. She knew she was in a world of shit.
“He fell into the water while fishing.” She stared directly into the woman’s furious gaze. “I saw it from the hill where I was taking a lunch break and rushed down to pull him out. I came with Iron to help work on the shuttle.”
The woman frowned and her hold on Dawn’s wet jumpsuit loosened. “He wasn’t breathing?”
Shaking her head, Dawn relaxed slightly. “I was able to revive him but he needs a doctor. He’s been coughing up water so it got into his lungs.”
The woman turned. “Contact the Vontage and tell them we either need their medic sent to us or Davton picked up to be taken to their ship now, Viper.”
A dark-haired cyborg shot Dawn a glare before she rushed off. Dawn swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. “I need to get back to Iron. I don’t think he realizes I’m gone. They were inside the shuttle testing the systems when I saw the boy fall in. I didn’t have time to get help since I knew seconds counted.”
“What is your name?”
“Dawn.”
“I’m Plono.” The woman released Dawn and took a step back. “You will remain here until I speak to the boy to make sure you are telling the truth and then I will escort you back to the repair crew on the hill working on the Yas.”
“Yas?”
“The shuttle. The paint faded but that is her name.”
“Okay.” Dawn knew it wasn’t up for debate. She shivered, chills racking her body from being cold and wet. “Can I sit by the fire? I’m freezing.”
The woman hesitated and then nodded, stepping out of the way. “Stay by the fire and make no sudden movements.” Plono glanced at the women around them. “Watch her.” Without another word the woman spun away, heading for where Davton had been taken.
Dawn moved slowly to the fire and sat down on one of the stones around the pit that had been laid out. She tore off her boots and placed them near enough to the fire to start drying without being in danger of getting too hot or burning. She glanced around her at the unusually quiet camp, seeing that all eyes were on her.
The fire wasn’t doing much to warm her but it was better than nothing. She was soaked all the way to her skin. In minutes Plono returned, looking less angry as she approached Dawn.
“We are grateful you saved the boy.” The woman cyborg looked anything but happy to be indebted to a human. “If you will follow me, I’ll find you some dry clothing before you grow ill and then I’ll return you to your work duty.”
The idea of being in something dry and getting warm was welcome to Dawn as she stood up. “Thanks. I’d appreciate it.”
“Follow me.”
Dawn left her boots behind to dry a little more as she walked barefoot through the camp toward one of the larger homes that near the back. Plono opened the door and waved Dawn inside. Without hesitation, Dawn walked into the dim room. It took her seconds of blinking to adjust from daylight to the interior.
The room was probably eighteen by twelve feet with a ten-foot-high ceiling. Metal made the walls shine a little. A bed dominated a corner of the room, a big four-poster made out of blue tree branches. Shock tore through Dawn as she stared at the bed. It wasn’t so much the bed that held her attention, but what was on it.
“That’s Coal. Ignore him,” Plono ordered Dawn, moving to a stack of crates that was used as an open dresser with clothing stacked inside.
Dawn’s mouth was hanging open and she couldn’t look away to save her life. A big, bald cyborg male was tied spread-eagle to the headboard and footboards. Only a sheet covered his lap but the rest of his thickly muscled body was exposed. He lifted his head to glare at Dawn. She met his dark brown stare.
“I said ignore him,” Plono said louder.
Dawn tore her stunned gaze from the man. “Why is he tied down?”
Plono grabbed some clothing and turned. The cyborg woman glanced at the bed and then walked to Dawn. “He is being punished. Put these on.”
“But…” She glanced around the room. “There’s nowhere that’s private. There are no walls or anything.” Her focus went back to the tied male.
“Your point is?”
“He’ll see me if I change in here.” Dawn stared up at her hostess.
“He has seen many females without their clothing on. He’s our breeder. Change your clothing quickly, or don’t. I won’t—”
The door opened and Viper stepped in. “The Vontage is sending a shuttle but they wish to speak to you now.”
Plono moved quickly toward the door. “Stay here, human. I will return shortly and then escort you back to your work crew. If you leave my home it will be considered a threat against my females.”
In stunned silence Dawn stood there staring at the male tied to the bed after they were left alone. He frowned at her and then tugged his arms but they were tied at the wrist. When he spoke, his voice was unnaturally deep and a little rough, as if he didn’t use it much.
“Do you plan on just staring at me?”
“I’m sorry.” She flushed, her cheeks heating up. “Why are you tied down? What are you being punished for?”
“I escaped and they had to track me down.” A cold smile angled his full lips upward. “It took them two months to find me this time so now they are keeping me tied up around the clock and they send fifteen women with me when they allow me to go to the river to bathe.”
“You’re a cyborg. Why would you try to escape from your own people?”
He jerked on the rope again, the wood creaking but not giving way. “You’re a slave as much as I am. Did your ship crash here?”
“No. I’m with some cyborgs who came here to rescue the survivors of the Moonslip. That would be you. No one told you?”
A deep growl tore from his lips as he twisted again in his ropes, this time using his legs as well. The sheet moved, sliding dangerously low on his hips. Dawn averted her gaze, not wanting to embarrass him, suspecting that he wore nothing under that sheet.
“No one told me. They don’t talk to me much unless it’s to give orders.”
“But you’re a cyborg.”
He frowned. “Change your clothing or they will return you to work that way.”
“I’m not stripping naked in front of you.”
A black eyebrow arched. “Modesty?”
“I guess so.”
He twisted again, pulling on the rope but unable to break free. “I will close my eyes. You shouldn’t suffer needlessly for having a rare female trait.”
A rare female trait? Was he for real? Dawn watched him lower his head and close his eyes. She hesitated and then quickly stripped out of her wet jumpsuit, the material sticking to her. She shivered as she put on a threadbare shirt and a pair of large cut-off pants with a tie waist. The clothes were old and nearly falling apart at th
e seams but they were dry against her skin and really large.
“I’m done. Thanks.”
He opened his eyes, lifted his head, and gave her a nod. “Will you do me a courtesy?”
“What do you want?”
“Will you tell your owners about me? Tell them I wish to have a discussion about earning my freedom. Are you owned by males or females?”
“Male. Singular.” Dawn glanced around the room and then moved to the table by the door. She grabbed the small item and moved toward the bed. “I’ll tell him but instead of asking for that, why not ask for this?” She held up the steak knife. “I’d want to be cut loose.”
Shock stunned his features. “Your male will punish you for freeing me.”
Dawn put her knee on the bed, going for the wrist closest to her. She shrugged. “What is Iron going to do? Yell at me?” She snorted. “Not talk to me for a day? I’ll survive.”
The knife wasn’t very sharp, so she really had to saw through the thick rope, but she managed it. He still looked amazed as he snatched the knife from her fingers, turning to hack through the rope gripping his other wrist.
“Tell your male I forced you to free me to avoid harsh punishment,” he said softly. “I owe you a favor.”
“You don’t owe me a thing,” Dawn said, backing away from the bed. “But you might want to wait to free yourself until I’m out of here or that woman is going to be back here real soon to see you’re loose.”
He hesitated, turning his head to stare at her. A slow smile spread across his features. “We could both escape. I will take you with me into the mountains. They will eventually capture us again but we’ll both be free until then.”
Dawn backed up. “No thanks. I don’t want to go anywhere but back to Iron.”